Other property transferred to the corporation in the course of its work RUSSIAN ECONOMY IN trends and outlooks Table 12 (continued) 1 Public Corporation on Nuclear Power “Rosatom” Federally owned shares in OAO “Nu- Funds from the federal budget, allocated to The right to participate in the implementation clear power complex”; the corporation to implement activities of the of all foreign trade rights and obligations program of activities of the corporation for a under government contracts (within three Federally owned shares of open joint- long term; years);

stock companies, included in the list, approved by the RF President; Revenues from the activities of the corpora- Authority of the federal budget agent and tion and special reserve funds and corporate administrator for Atomic Energy of the RusCapital assets of the federal government assets, created on their basis sian Federation, acting on the obligations and unitary enterprises, included in the list, rights of federal state unitary enterprises, approved by the RF Government; which transferred property;

Property in the operational management Authority to implement on behalf of the of federal government agencies, corpo- Russian Federation the property rights in rations, transferred to the corporations respect to subordinated federal government as per the list, approved by the RF Gov- unitary enterprises and federal government ernment; agencies;

“Rosatom” property in operational On behalf of the Russian Federation, repremanagement upon the decision on sent the shareholder of open joint-stock com“Rosatom” liquidation of in the pre- panies to transfer their shares in the corporascribed manner; tion as property contribution of the Russian Federation Other federally owned property upon the decision of the RF Government;

Voluntary contributions and donations Some of the corporations, to a certain extent, “replace” in a new quality the structures, existed before, such as Vnesheconombank, established on the basis of restructuring and capitalization of existing structures (Roseksimbank, Russian Bank for Development, USSR Vnesheconombank). “Rosatom” public corporation during the transitional period should operate in the new capacity as a “replacement” to the Federal Agency on Nuclear Power, and PC “Olympstroy” in conjunction with the “Program of Olympic construction sites and development of the city as the mountain health resort of Sochi” “replaces”, the Targeted Federal Program on “Sochi development as a mountain health resort (over 2006–2014 years)” and the Directorate of Targeted Federal Program.

In regard to the administrative status of corporations (see Table 13), one can note that it is rather high68: according to the relevant laws, the heads of those corporations (excluding Foundation for Promotion of Housing and Public Utilities Reform and PC “Olympstroy”) should be appointed directly by the RF President, and the members of Supervisory Board should be either also appointed by the President, or some of them – under presentation of the RF President (with the exception of Vnesheconombank and “Olympstroy”). Moreover, the Supervisory Boards of such corporations as PC “Rosnanotech”, the Foundation for Promotion of Housing and Public Utilities Reform, should be formed upon presenation of several branches of government (the RF President, the State Duma, the Government of the Russian Federation), what is one more confirmation of the nationwide priority of those structures.

In addition, some laws on public corporations directly prohibit the public authorities to interfere in the activities of public corporations, unless otherwise specified by federal laws.

Section Institutional Problems Òàáëèöà Requirements to the Structure and the Appointment of Public Corporations Management Foundation for Public Corporapromotion of “Rosatom” Public Vnesheconombank PC “Rosnanotech” PC “Olympstroy” tion «Rostechhousing and public Corporation nologii utilities reform The order of Chairman is ap- Director General is Director General is Director General is Director General is Director General is appointment of the pointed by the RF appointed by the appointed by the appointed by the appointed by the appointed by the responsible execu- President RF President RF government RF government RF President RF President under tive body presentation of the RF government Speaker Management 8 Management 8 Management 8 Management 10 Management 11 Management Director General Board structure Board members and Board members and Board members and Board members and Board members, and other Managethe Chairman of Director General Director General Corporation Presi- Director General ment Board memVnesheconombank dent and 5 his Deputies bers The order of Members of the Members of the Members of the Members of the Members of the Members of the Board are ap- Board are ap- Board are ap- Board are ap- Board (except for Board are apappointment of pointed by the pointed by the pointed by the pointed by the Deputies to Direc- pointed by the management supervisory board supervisory board supervisory board supervisory board tor General) are supervisory board board members under presentation under presentation under presentation under presentation appointed by the under presentation (except for the sole of Vnesheconom- of Director General of Director General of Director General supervisory board of Director General executive body) bank Chairman under presentation of Director General. for Deputies to Director General are appointed by Director General upon agreement with supervisory Board Requirements for 9 non-staff mem- - 14 non-staff 16 non-staff mem- - 12 non-staff - 8 non-staff mem- - 8 non-staff members of Vneshe- members of the bers of the Founda- members of the bers are appointed bers are appointed the supervisory conombank, ap- corporation, ap- tion are appointed corporation, ap- by the RF Presi- by the RF Presiboard structure pointed by the RF pointed by the RF bby the RF gov- pointed by the RF dent, among them: dent;

and formation Government; Government, ernment, among government; 4 representatives of - Director General Vnesheconombank among them: them: - the Corporation the RF President, Chairman is a 5 members re 6 members under Chairman is a representatives of member of the appointed by the presentation of the member of the the RF government;

supervisory board RF President; RF President; supervisory board - Director General 2 members are 5 members under is a member of the appointed by the presentation of the supervisory board State Duma; RF government;

2 members are 4 members are appointed under appointed under presentation of the presentation of the RF Federal Coun- RF Federal Council; cil;

5 members are 2 members under appointed under presentation of presentation of the Public Chamber of RF government; Russia - Director General is the member of Supervising Board Advisory body R&D Council R&D Council With regard to contribution of relevant experience to corporations’ potential, the evaluations of this kind are always rather subjective. It can be noted, that Vnesheconombank experience can be regarded as a long-term priority projects support to the Russian Bank for Development, as well as a pilot project of Roseksimbank to implement various schemes of export opeations. Rosatom Corporation can utilize the experience of the Federal Agency on Nuclear Power in management and strategy development in this sector, Rostehnologii corporation can RUSSIAN ECONOMY IN trends and outlooks implement its experience in promoting high-tech products for export, while Rosoboronexport can contribute by implementation of foreign trade activities with respect to military products.

The major constraint in the implementation of public corporations potential can be regarded as generally insufficiently clearformulated objectives and principles of their activities, as well as the process of decision-making.

One of the potential benefits of all public corporations is significantly greater flexibility in expenditures, expanded capacities in utilization the funds. However, these advanced capabilities to reduce the risk of abuse, and (or) the risk of waste of resources should be "balanced" with detailed and transparent activities, including decision-making procedures to measure performance. This is particularly relevant in view of, on the one hand, internal functional contradictions in some established corporations (for example, the non-profit nature of corporations and commercial activities of the joint stock companies, managed by them). On the other hand, many corporations, in view of their large resource and capabilities, but with the lack of transparency in implementation of government policy and interaction with government authorities, uncertainty in strategy development became weak points for lobbying by various stakeholders.

It should be noted, that these problems can not be solved by simple direct strengthening of government control; on the contrary, if there is no clear definition to criteria for evaluation of the corporations performance and the no basic regulations on their activities, then the audits (because of the uncertainty as to assessment criteria of performance of the corporations) can become an instrument of pressure on the corporation and its leadership on the part of various interested groups.

Another problem also looks important: the laws on public corporations specify their management structure, but do not identify neither the areas, nor the measure of responsibility of the management bodies for their decisions and their accountability within the corporations and to the government. It is indicated in the laws on public corporations, what authorities can take decisions on cessation of responsibilities of supervisory board members and chairmen as their sole executive bodies, but the motives for such decisions are not provided even in general terms. It makes unclear the responsibilities and motivation of the management bodies for the performance of the corporations.

As it has been mentioned earlier, significant challenges in ensuring efficient operation of corporations are created by the inadequacy of the legal provisions, regulating different aspects of their activities.

At the same time, a number of corporations take very active measures in filling up the gaps, at least at the level of secondary legislation (regulations and orders of the RF Government), or at least at the level of documents, adopted by corporations, which determine the rules of their activities (see Table 14). The following important documents can be noted in this regard:

• “Vneshekonombank” – the RF Government has approved the Memorandum on Vnesheconombank financial policies, as well as the order of preparation, content and validity term of the Memorandum.

• PC “Olympstroy” – the RF Government has approved the Program on construction of Olympic facilities and development of Sochi as the mountain health resort.

• Foundation for Promotion of Housing and Public Utilities Reform – the RF government has determined the procedure of allocation of temporarily uncommitted funds of the corporation.

Table Follow-up Regulations for Public Corporations upon their Legal Incorporation 1. Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs 17.05.2007 – Federal law “On the Bank for Development” is adopted 07.06.2007 – The government of the Russian Federation has approved the acceptance act of reorganization of the Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of the USSR in the public corporation “Bank for Development of Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)” 18.06.2007 – The Chairman of the public corporation “Bank for Development of Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)” is appointed by the order of the RF President 19.06.2007. – Members of Supervisory Board of the public corporation “Bank for Development of Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)” is appointed by the order of the RF government 28.06.2007 – at their first meeting the members of Supervisory Board of the public corporation “Bank for Development Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)” have approved the Board of Directors staff members 12.07.2007 – at the meeting the Supervisory Board of the public corporation “Bank for Development Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)” Memorandum on financial policy of the public corporation was approved 27.07.2007 – The Regulations on the supervisory board of public corporation “Bank for Development of Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)” was approved by the RF government – The RF Government has issued an order on the preparation, content and validity term of the Memorandum on financial policies of the public corporation Vnesheconombank – Memorandum on financial policies of the public corporation “Bank for Development Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)” was adopted by the RF government 27.11.2007 – The RF Government issued an order to transfer the funds from the RF Stabilization Fund in the form of property contribution from the Russian Federation to the authorized capital of public corporation “Bank for Development of Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)” in the amount of RUR 180 billion 07.12.2007 – The RF Government issued an order to transfer the federal property of 100 per cent of the shares of OAO “Russian Bank for Development” and 5.226 per cent of the shares of ZAO “Targeted government Russian Export-Import Bank” to the authorized capital of the public corporation “Bank for Development of Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)” 19.02.2008 – the RF government has approved the Regulations for public corporation “Bank for Development of Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)” in export credits insurance against commercial and political risks However, none of those documents had not been presented to the public, for example, at the website of the corporation (as of March 1, 2008), although the Supervisory Board meetings were held long ago, on December 11 and 27, 2007, and on January 31, 2008.